Baby Food Diet – Does it Work?

It is generally accepted that you become overweight because your calorie intake exceeds your body’s needs. In other words the calories you are consuming are not being used up. The excess calories are stored in the body and turn to fat. The net result is that your weight increases.

The easy solution is to simply eat less to reduce your calorie intake or exercise more to burn up the calories you are consuming.

This is extremely simple in theory but far more difficult in practice.

There are however literally hundreds of weight loss products and weight reducing diets on the market designed to help you achieve your goal of losing weight. Some of the products can genuinely help you whilst others are a complete waste of time.

Every now and again there are also ‘fad diets’ that become popular. Many of these are adopted by celebrities and as a result gain popularity with the general public.

One of the latest of these ‘diets’ to have become popular with many of the Hollywood  stars is the BABY FOOD DIET.

What is the baby food diet?

The baby food diet is exactly what it appears to be! Basically in place of normal meals and snacks the people adopting the diet simply consume jars of proprietary brand baby food. Apparently stars such as Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon are extremely enthusiastic about the diet.

How does the baby food diet work?

In most instances the baby food is simply used to satisfy food cravings.

Food cravings are generally extremely difficult to ignore. After a while the craving becomes too much to ignore and you give in and begin snacking. The snacks that we tend to go for are usually high in sugar and fat and contain large amounts of calories. Baby food, on the other hand, is designed to be healthy and nutritious. Consuming the contents of one jar of baby food is very often sufficient to relieve the craving and remove the hunger pains.

The more radical disciples of the baby food diet however advocate the use of baby foods as complete meal replacements.  If you are intending to use baby food to replace meals completely you do need to exercise a little caution. Because the portion sizes are extremely small and are heavily pureed they are unlikely to give the feeling of being completely satiated. This could ultimately lead to you consuming larger portions which would make the diet completely ineffective.

Baby food is available to cater for almost all types of dietary requirements, such as lactose intolerant or vegetarian etc.

Because it is formulated for infants baby food is generally quite bland and the taste is unlikely to be overly appealing to adults.

Is the baby food diet recommended?

As this diet is relatively new there are very few guidelines regarding its use or long term effectiveness. If you are considering replacing complete meals with baby food it may be worth seeking medical advice. It may also be advisable to take some form of multi vitamin supplement to ensure that all of your dietary requirements are being met.

If you are simply using baby food as an alternative to other forms of snack it is quite possible that you may find it beneficial.

As with any form of diet it is essential that some form of exercise routine is included if you are looking for the maximum amount of benefit.

 
Photo credit: Biblioteca de Arte-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Photo credit: “PictureYouth” / Foter.com / CC BY

The very first thing you need to think about if you are considering getting back into shape is the quantity of food you are consuming. You have read articles and reviews regarding weight loss and appreciate that you have put on weight because you are eating more calories than your body is using.

You also understand that to get back into shape you basically have to reduce your food intake. This is in fact true but there is a snag. Simply cutting your food intake can leave you feeling hungry between meals. For most people feeling permanently hungry is too much to cope with and they start to eat normally again. As a result their weight does not reduce.

There is however ways that you can reduce your weight without feeling hungry all of the time.

First of all you need to look carefully at the kinds of food you are eating. You will in all probability discover that some of your standard foods contain unhealthy amounts of calories. These are the types of foods you should steer clear of.

You should attempt to remove processed foods and ready meals as they almost always usually contain huge amounts of calories.

Fizzy drinks, colas and alcohol all have lots of sugar and should also be removed from your diet. You should also consider what types of dairy products you consume and strive to substitute your usual selection with a lower fat version.

Food substitution can actually reduce your calorie consumption considerably.

There are also certain types of foods that you can consume that contain almost no calories but will make you feel fuller.

Green leafy vegetables are high in nutrients but usually do not contain a great number of calories and will make you feel satiated quickly. You should try to include these types of vegetables in the majority of your meals if possible.

Eating salads can also be beneficial for weight loss. It generally takes approximately 20 minutes for your brain to receive signals from your stomach telling it that it has had enough food. Eating a small dish of salad as a starter prior to your main meal it will enable you to cut down your portion sizes considerably without feeling hungry. It is important that you do not resort to covering the salad in dressing as even the slimmers versions tend to have quite significant amounts of calories. If you really can’t eat salad without a dressing simply put a small amount in a dish next to your plate in order to control how much of it you consume.

Try and include more fish in your diet. Tuna, salmon and herring are all high in omega-3. This helps to increase the leptin in your body which helps to control your desire to eat.

Fresh fruit like apples are excellent for weight loss. Apples need quite a lot of chewing and despite the fact that they are not particularly low in calories most of these are used up whilst they are being consumed. In addition to this they also contain significant amounts of soluble fibre and pectin which help to make you feel full and boost your levels of energy.

Drink large amounts of water, it does not contain any calories at all and is an exceptional appetite suppressant. It is an excellent substitute for colas and fizzy drinks.

You can also buy weight reduction pills to help you control your appetite. The top appetite suppressants will allow you to reduce your calorie intake by approximately 2000 calories per day. If you lose weight with pills to help you it is essential that you stick to the leading brands as they are usually manufactured from only natural ingredients which will not result in unpleasant side effects.